Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-03-12
LOCO WEED.
The cowboys Experience With the Crary
 Weed.

The Cowboys Erpsriehee "hh ehe NhAhs
 Weed.
 A correspondent of the Colorado Live Stock Review aud Standard gives the foIlowing interesting description of the loco weed, its history and its effects:
 "I,oco is. I believe, 8 Spanish word meaning crazy. The first time l ever bsarI tbe word Mexican cook of Kit Csrson's used #, Rs he had a locoed horse. He showed me the plant and eI- plained to me the effect 1t had on horses, cattle and sheep. also on the human family, provided they get dose of II. Ihis was in 1859, since which time l have been familiar with loco and its effects on stock.
 Our State of Colorado paid bounty on it for time, and then repealed tbe law, which was right, as no state couli stand n draft on her treasury for plant that grows spontaneous all over her do- main. But they repealed said law on the statement from Professor Favlle that ii was not poisonous to stock of any kind. Now common COW puucher has got 10 have cheek like government mule to dispute such authority, but l here make the statement that the Pro lessor doesn't know any more about tie ouslities of loco and its effects on stock than n hen knows ns to who IS the sI-e or dam of her chickens. To be pro lessor and be able to aualyZe a sub stance by the use of chemicals is, l suppose, nice, and has great weight with some people, but let said Professor get into the saddle and work with stock year after year for over twenty five years and notice the effects loco has on stCck, their stomRchs doing the chemical work. and his observations taking the place fl book education, and be will conclude fl loco is not poison It IS worse than forty rod whiskey, and everybody, even the drinker. calls that poison.
 Now let a healthy COW brute eat loco they will all eat it rgvenOusly; the ples that they have to learn to eat lt IS all bosh: l saw some balls raised m Canada shipped to Pudblo, drove them twelve miles, stopped them to graze m grsmms grass three inches high, with several punches of loco in the grass, these Kanuck bulls ate the loco clean first. have seen sucking calves eat IL, the first green stuff they ever ate m their lives.
 Cattle all love loco. After eating 1t short time you will notice s change ID their actions snd in their looks. They will walk carefully. like they were step ping on eggs they will loos st you like | a fool: do not know Of anything that can look as foolish Bs l0coei COW brute. A drunken man cannot begIn where the COWS cave of. The simplest drunken diot looks wise compared to locoed brute. You will notice that they do not know what to do or where to go; brlng your auirt down hard on your chspps and she will jump straight up and light l ont running her level ,best right away from where you want her 10 go, Now stop her or hum if you can, but watch that they do not run over you.
 If you see c COW brute that you think is locoed. and you are not certain, take your lariat from the horn of your saddle. | just drop 1t over her horns and see her tremble and shake like c person with palsy or St. Yitus dance. Thst test will never fail Cattle show the effects Of loco worst at the beginning of cold
 weather. If they have been poisoned enough to show the shaking they will fall away rapidly and dIe by spring, or
 before, If left on the range.
 Take alocOed COW for breeder; II she does have 8 calf she has not sense enough 10 care for it and the calf is little, poor
 weakly idiot, and not one in ten ever | lives 10 be n year old. A locoed COW is not worth, for anything on earth. one dollar more than her hide will brinc.
 The effects of loco on horses gre the same as on cattle. They are practically useless. and exceedingly dangerous. They will "cut upr like drunken clown l .F A, s~, eIs Fha~Ta lf hrnnH
 mares get locoed they wlll seldom bring n fosl and raise it. Their colts will | either bs still born or else 90 idiotic and | weak that one in ten will not live till wesniRz time.
 My observation oi loco is that. all things favorable, It comes from the seed, grows one year; the next year blooms | and raises seed, then dies. The number | of seeds one plant will raise is into fhe | hundreds of thousands. It is growing the first in the spring snd the last in the | fall, and Is one of the devils own weeds. Cattle that gre lOcOed enough tO have the shakes will often lose one horn CT both. Tbe pIth or the horn rOts com pletely away. Yuu will see them with their head against tree or fence post, where they will push and rub and trem- ble. Their blood becomes 30 poisoned that swellings will appear on the Jaw or on ssy other place, and ill with pus. Tn other words the kidneys will decay; the spine is affected from the starti they will show that from their walk.
 This one plant costs the COW interests thousands of dollars annually m the premature dropping of calves aud colts, and matured stock rendered useless by using II. have just seen an inquiry m an eastern paper about loco weed, and it's effects on stock, and the editor an nounces that Coloraio's medI- cal board, after careful analysis. have decided that 1t contains nothing poisonous or hurtiul to domestic stock. I would suggest that our medical board have Q dose of It themselves, presume, however, that nature must have fErnish- ed them with Il.